Last week I attended the kickoff party for NEA Studio, a new program from venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates, to help design entrepreneurs grow side projects into full-fledged new ventures.

I applied to the program a few months ago, whilst developing my thesis, Jointly – an app that helps communities self-organize disaster relief. With the intention of encouraging the role of designers as entrepreneurs, NEA seemed like a great transition after MFAD, being well-prepared to take the next steps to implement Jointly into the marketplace.

I’ll be one of four entrepreneurs in residence at NEA Studio, granted a stipend to help fund development, workspace in Union Square, and regular meeting sessions with an incredible list of investors and advisors from the startup, design and investor community, who we’ll be working with throughout the 12-week long program this summer.

I’m so looking forward to an incredible summer and very excited to make Jointly a reality.